October 2, 2012. Copyright 2012, Graphic News. All rights reserved

Bond movie Skyfall reaches for new heights
By Joanna Griffin

LONDON, October 2, Graphic News: Half a century after Dr No first got fans hooked on the exploits of 007, Skyfall is expected to show exactly why the Bond franchise still has pulling power after all these years. And as usual, the failure to keep details of the film under wraps has only whetted appetites for the 23rd movie in the series, which has its world premiere in London on October 23 and opens in cinemas from October 26.

Daniel Craig makes his third appearance as the British spy in the film directed by Sam Mendes. If the initial choice of Mendes, best known for directing Oscar-winning dark drama American Beauty, rattled some nerves, Bond fans needn't have worried. Mendes has promised that the film packs in plenty of action sequences, and that he has worked hard to make a film for "hardcore Bond geeks".

Mendes has revived tradition by bringing back the Aston Martin and Q (played by Ben Whishaw), but he has added a cast with superior acting credentials: Judi Dench again plays M, while others include Ralph Fiennes (Gareth Mallory), Albert Finney (Kincade) and Javier Bardem as villain Raoul Silva. Some critics have already decided the inclusion of Bardem, currently Hollywood's most creepy villain, is an inspired touch that suggests this movie will be satisfying to watch on many levels.

Expect more of the brooding Bond we saw in Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace, but Skyfall breaks with the plotline of the latter, which cost $200m to make and was considered a relative critical flop. This time, Bond reportedly goes further off the rails in a movie that begins with his supposed death: an attack on M16 leads the government to question M's handling of the incident, and Bond reappears to defend her against an attack on her life, eventually following a trail from London to the South China Sea as he discovers how the sinister Silva is connected to them both. 

It would not be a Bond movie if our hero did not collide with beautiful women: this time Naomie Harris is the field spy Eve and French actress Berenice Marlohe plays the enigmatic Severine. But some fans are horrified that the spy's trademark Martini, "shaken not stirred", has been replaced with a bottle of Heineken beer, after Skyfall's makers signed a product placement deal with the Dutch firm for $45 million, almost a third of the film's budget of $150 million. Craig has defended this move as reflecting the new commercial reality -- after all, filming was suspended in 2010 while the MGM studio battled against bankruptcy. 

Filming has taken place in China, Istanbul and the UK, with many sequences shot in London. The combination of Craig and Mendes suggests this Bond movie will have plenty of style and humour, and perhaps a confident British feel (Adele provides the soundtrack) that might help sway those remaining Bond fans who have never accepted Craig as the suave spy (Craig is the sixth actor to play Bond and has signed up to two more movies). 

That's if his brief appearance with Her Majesty the Queen during the Olympics opening ceremony has not done so already.
/ENDS

Release dates worldwide:
http://www.skyfall-movie.com/releasedates/